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Chewed up freewheel 
PostPosted: Wed May 05, 2010 7:33 pm Reply with quote
scozim
Joined: 26 Sep 2008
Posts: 629
Location: Ellensburg, WA
The Suntour Perfect freewheel that I picked up today attached to a fairly nice Mavic tubular and Normandy Luxe Competition high flange hub has had the two notches on the freewheel body messed up by someone. The freewheel removal tool is too loose in the notches to loosen the body from the hub.

Looking for suggestions on how to get the freewheel off the hub without damaging the hub. It's too bad the rings are in pretty good shape.

Scott

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No easy way 
PostPosted: Wed May 05, 2010 11:27 pm Reply with quote
verktyg
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 2814
Location: SF Bay Area
There is no easy way to get a freewheel with stripped removal slots off a hub.

I've been able to true up the removal slots with a Dremel tool and a carbide burr or little mounted grinding wheel enough to where a freewheel remover works.

As long as the slots in the turning direction are parallel it might work. The rear of the teeth don't have to make contact.

Use an old quick release to hold the remover tightly in place until the freewheel breaks loose.

Suntour used a better design and better steel than say Regina (am I anti Italian? - not exactly) so it might work OK.

The last resort is to take a hammer and prick punch and use them to remove the retaining ring that holds the freewheel together. There are usually 2 little holes in the face of the ring that were used to tighten it during assembly.

I don't remember whether they untighten right or left?

When you get the ring off, you will get a "rain" of small ball bearings as you remove the outer part of the freewheel body. Once off, you can clamp the inner part of the freewheel in a vise and turn the freewheel off.

If you were bored and had lots of time, you could maybe reassemble the freewheel. I did it once or twice just for the experience.

House

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PostPosted: Thu May 06, 2010 8:15 am Reply with quote
Gtane
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Posts: 681
Location: UK
Definitely a toughy Scott. I too have had the same and resorted to the hammer and punch solution, as Chas mentions. I then threw the block away.

Tim

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Re: No easy way 
PostPosted: Thu May 06, 2010 12:09 pm Reply with quote
garage sale GT
Joined: 08 Apr 2010
Posts: 16
Location: none
verktyg wrote:
The last resort is to take a hammer and prick punch and use them to remove the retaining ring that holds the freewheel together. There are usually 2 little holes in the face of the ring that were used to tighten it during assembly.

I don't remember whether they untighten right or left?

When you get the ring off, you will get a "rain" of small ball bearings as you remove the outer part of the freewheel body. Once off, you can clamp the inner part of the freewheel in a vise and turn the freewheel off.

If you were bored and had lots of time, you could maybe reassemble the freewheel. I did it once or twice just for the experience.

House
No last resort-it's actually kind of easy IMHO.

The outer cone on a Suntour freewheel should be reverse thread which loosens clockwise. That retaining ring is actually a bearing cone which the freewheel's cogs turn on. The "cone part" is facing inward and is inside the sprockets.

I have removed a few freewheels this way. Put a punch or cold chisel against the side of one of the small holes on the outer face of the freewheel, carefully drive off the cone which holds the sprockets on by tapping the punch with a hammer so the cone is forced to turn clockwise, then remove the cogs and take the freewheel hub off the wheel hub with a pipe wrench.

When you tap the freewheel's cone off, it helps to support the teeth of the freewheel on a block of wood on your workbench (with your arms around the wheel, and the wheel's left side against your chest, and hammering downward toward the bench) so the teeth take the force of hammering. The support you'll get is a lot stiffer than if you stood the wheel up on its tire as you hammered, and you won't wind up cushioning all the force of the hammering away in the tire. Less risk of damage too.

I have not done exhaustive comparisons but it sure seems like a light, sharp hit from a lighter tool than a hammer works better than pounding with a hammer. Use an old railroad spike to smack your cold chisel. Snap it quick with your wrist instead of pounding with your whole arm. Go for speed.

If you want to reuse the FW, make sure to save all the spacers under the outer cone. The bearing balls are likely to be good, too, so disassemble it over a sheet of newspaper after loosening the outer cone. And put the pipe wrench on a surface other than the bearing surface or the pawl notches.

Before you start, get some Liquid Wrench on the freewheel threads. Others swear PB-Blaster works better, but I have only used it once or twice. Soak overnight.
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Chewed up freewheel 
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